Victor Wang

Victor Wang
Born
💼 Occupation	Curator, Museum Director
🌐 Website	https://viktorwang.com/

Victor Wang (Chinese name: 王宗孚, Pinyin: Wáng Zōngfú) is a curator, art historian, and museum director. He served as Executive and Artistic Director at M WOODS Museum, a contemporary art institution in China with locations in Beijing and Chengdu, from 2019 to 2025. In 2025, he was appointed Director of Artspace, located on Gadigal Country in Sydney, Australia.

Wang has organized exhibitions in collaboration with institutions including the Palais de Tokyo, Tate Modern in London, Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in Berlin, and the first collaborative exhibition between the British Museum (U.K.) and a non-state-run art museum in China.

Wang is known for his exhibitions, cross-cultural collaborations, and work in contemporary and performance art. He founded the Institute of Asian Performance Art (IAPA) and has contributed to various publications as an editor and writer.

Early Life and Education

Victor Wang was raised between Chile, Canada, and China. These diverse cultural experiences, combined with his Chinese and Chilean heritage, profoundly shaped Wang's curatorial vision, emphasizing storytelling, cultural exchange, and a global perspective.

He received his MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art in London and participated in curatorial residencies, including Tokyo Arts and Space (TOKAS) in 2017 and the Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course in 2016.

Career

M WOODS Museum

Victor Wang joined M WOODS Museum in 2019, becoming its Artistic Director and later its Executive and Artistic Director. Under his leadership, the museum expanded its influence by opening a new location in Chengdu in 2023 and hosting internationally acclaimed exhibitions.

Selected significant exhibitions curated and co-curated at M WOODS include:

• Bruce Nauman: OK OK OK (2022): The artist's first museum exhibition in China, co-organized by Tate, and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, with an accompanying publication developed in collaboration with Tate.
• Ann Veronica Janssens: pinkyellowblue (2023): The first museum survey of Janssens in China, highlighting her innovative use of light, space, and sensory perception.
• Italian Renaissance Drawings: A Dialogue with China (2021): A collaboration with the British Museum, co-curated with Sarah Vowels, The Smirnov Family Curator of Italian and French Prints and Drawings, marking the first partnership between a non-state-run Chinese museum and the British Museum.
• Man Ray (2021): The first major survey of Man Ray in China, featuring over 240 works that explored his groundbreaking contributions to Surrealism, photography, and modern art.
• Salman Toor: New Paintings and Drawings (2023): A landmark exhibition introducing Toor's distinct figurative style to Chinese audiences, exploring themes of identity, intimacy, and diaspora.
• Ryuichi Sakamoto: Seeing Sound, Hearing Time (2021) and Ryuichi Sakamoto:Sound and Time (2024): Two landmark exhibitions by Ryuichi Sakamoto, co-curated with Sachiko Namba, including the publication of Sakamoto's first book in Chinese for the 2021 exhibition.
• Martin Margiela (2022): The artist's first major exhibition in Asia, showcasing over 50 new works, including installations and site-specific displays. Co-curated with Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel. A collaboration with Lafayette Anticipations - Fondation Galeries Lafayette, Pairs.
• Giorgio Morandi: The Poetics of Stillness (2020): The first museum solo exhibition of Morandi in China and the largest in Asia, showcasing over 80 works.

Independent Projects and Cross-Cultural Collaborations

Victor Wang's curatorial practice is marked by fostering cross-cultural dialogue between artists and regions. Selected key exhibitions include:

• Huang Rui: The Name of Absence (2023): Presented at the Long Museum in Shanghai, the largest survey of the artist's work to date.
• Micro Era: Time-based Media Art from China (2019): Co-curated with Anna-Catharina Gebbers, Yang Beichen, and curatorial advisor Pi Li, at the Nationalgalerie Berlin, this groundbreaking exhibition introduced Chinese media art to European audiences.
• Afterimage: Dangdai Yishu (2019): Hosted at Lisson Gallery, London, featuring Chinese female artists such as Yu Hong and Lin Tianmiao.
• Zhongguo 2185 (2017): Presented at Sadie Coles HQ in London, introduced Chinese artists such as Lu Yang, Yu Ji, and Nabuqi to Western audiences, and exploring futuristic narratives.
• Haroon Mirza: Tones in the Key of Electricity (2019): Presented at the Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing, this exhibition explored sound, light, and electricity as immersive media, furthering cross-cultural dialogues around experimental practices.
• Inside China – L'Intérieur du Géant (2015): Co-curated with Jo-ey Tang of the Palais de Tokyo for the K11 Art Foundation in Shanghai, this marked one of Wang's early collaborations with institutions dedicated to cross-cultural exchange.
• Institute of Asian Performance Art: Tokyo (2018): Held at Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo, this exhibition featured pioneering artists Mako Idemitsu (Japan), Zhang Peili (China), and Park Hyunki (South Korea). It examined the inter-regional dialogues in East Asia and the unique approaches to video art developed by these artists.
• Ensemble sin órganos (2016): Presented at the Wifredo Lam Centre for Contemporary Art in Havana, the first performance-based exhibition at the center. Co-curated with Blanca Victoria López, the show featured artists like Trisha Brown, VALIE EXPORT, and Yvonne Rainer, creating a dialogue between the Global South, Asia, and Euro-American artists while reintroducing avant-garde performance art to Cuban audiences.

Frieze LIVE and Public Engagements

Victor Wang curated The Institute of Melodic Healing for Frieze LIVE (2020), an ambitious 111-hour project that explored sound and performance as tools for healing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative featured international artists such as Alvaro Barrington, Mandy El-Sayegh, Anthea Hamilton, and Zadie Xa & Benito Mayor Vallejo, showcasing Wang's innovative approach to live art during restrictive times.

Wang also participated in prominent public discussions with artists, including:

• In conversation with Yinka Shonibare CBE (South South Talk, 2021)
• Moderating Richard Tuttle at Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum (CAFA), Beijing (2019)
• Denzil Forrester at Frieze LIVE (2020)
• In conversation with Tehching Hsieh (IAPA, 2018 and FIAC, 2021)

Publications

Victor Wang has made significant contributions to the art world through his editorial projects:

• IAPA Reader: Performance Histories from East Asia 1960s–90s (2018)
• Bruce Nauman: OK OK OK (2022, Tate Publishing and M WOODS)
• Ryuichi Sakamoto: Seeing Sound, Hearing Time (2021)
• Pod, Capsule, Cluster (2019) with Richard Tuttle
• Academic essay on Kim Kulim for the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) retrospective
• Oscar Murillo: The Build-up of Content and Information (2018, David Zwirner Books)
• Articles for Artforum, ArtReview, and Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art

Lectures and Academic Contributions

Victor Wang has lectured at leading institutions worldwide, including:

• Royal Academy Schools, London
• Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), Beijing
• Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo
• Goldsmiths, University of London
• The Courtauld Institute of Art, London
• Architectural Association School of Architecture, London
• Royal College of Art, London
• Yale Schwarzman Center, Yale University, Connecticut

References

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